A rubber stopper of an injection solution vial is put on an opening of the vial containing the injection solution, and peripheral portion of the stopper is fixed by a clamp. When the injection solution in the vial is to be introduced to a syringe, a syringe needle is put into the center of the rubber stopper.
In this manner, the rubber stopper for an injection vial comes to be in direct contact with the syringe needle. Therefore, it is necessary to inspect the appearance of the stopper before it is put on the vial. Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2000-266685 discloses an apparatus for inspecting appearance of such rubber stoppers. The inspecting apparatus disclosed in this laid-open application includes an aligning and supplying portion, a guide rail, a first conveying portion and a second conveying portion. The first conveying portion includes a first inspecting portion and a defect ejecting portion, and the second conveying portion includes a second inspecting portion and a defect ejecting portion. The aligning and supplying portion sets rubber stoppers to erect attitude, aligns the same in tandem in back-and-forth direction, and supplies the same to the first conveying portion. By way of example, a known parts feeder or the like may be used as the aligning and supplying portion. The guide rail guides the rubber stoppers supplied from the aligning and supplying portion and supplies the rubber stoppers to the first conveying portion while regulating their positions in the left-and-right direction. A known belt conveyer or the like may be used as the first conveying portion. The first conveying portion conveys forward the rubber stoppers in the erect attitude at a constant speed, while supporting from below the rubber stoppers at prescribed positions in the left-and-right direction, so that the stoppers are positioned at a prescribed interval in the back-and-forth direction. The second conveying portion conveys forward the rubber stoppers in the erect attitude at a constant speed, while supporting from above the rubber stoppers at prescribed positions in the left-and-right direction, so that the stoppers are positioned at a prescribed interval in the back-and-forth direction.
In the inspecting apparatus, when the rubber stoppers are vibrated at the aligning and supplying portion employing the known vibratory parts feeder or the like, the rubber stoppers are aligned in tandem in erect attitude. The stoppers in this state are guided by the guide rail, and at a first inspecting portion of the first conveying portion, appearance is inspected.
In the inspecting apparatus disclosed in the laid-open application described above, however, vibration of the parts feeder at the aligning and supplying portion is transmitted to the inspecting portion. Therefore, a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) camera at the inspecting portion vibrates, and clear imaging of the rubber stoppers becomes impossible. This makes accurate inspection difficult.
The present invention was made to solve the above-described problem, and its object is to provide an inspecting apparatus enabling accurate inspection, of which inspection area is free of any influence of vibration even when objects have complicated shapes and are preliminarily aligned by using a vibratory parts feeder, as well as to provide a conveying apparatus used for the inspecting apparatus.